Virginia Lois Hardin Kosich

Virginia Lois Hardin was born on April 13, 1926. She was born the middle child of Flora Burgess and Charles J. Hardin.

 

This picture was taken in Alabama. Aunt Jean is the baby in the top row, fourth from the left. These are some of Grandpa Hardin’s siblings, his parents, grandparents and the little girl standing on the far left is Aunt Kay.

She must have been a charmer as a baby and she was a charmer her entire life.

Aunt Jean is on the left, my momma in the middle and Aunt Kay on the right.

She was born in Washington State and as her father worked for the railroad, they moved a lot. Her younger sister Jubie was born in Texas before they lived in New Mexico. By about 1935, in the midst of the Great Depression, they moved in their Touring Dodge to California. They moved out with two other families, the Coates family and the McDonald family. They all came to California because Grandpa Hardin had cousins, Jack and Etta Trapp, who were already living in there. They moved to Corning.

Jeannie, Jubie and Kay

Those girls must have been very excited to leave the dust bowl behind. The 1930’s was a period of time when severe dust storms damaged the agriculture on the prairies in middle America and over two hundred thousand people came to California. Because so many people were flooding in, many camped wherever they could until they were able to get established. For the Hardins, it was underneath Woodson Bridge. Now this area is a State Park but in the 1930’s, everyone just camped next to the river.

Jeannie always made everything fun. Jubie would say it didn’t matter what Jeannie had to do, she would make a game of it and Jubie grew up very close to her sister.

Charles, Flora, Jeannie and Jubie

They lived in Corning for three years, then the family moved to Yuba City. They were there for about three years too, then to Fresno for a couple more. At that point, her older sister Kay went off to boarding school and it was just Jeannie and Jubie at home. They moved to Riverdale where her father gave a try at farming cotton and alfalfa. After, her mother bought a house in Fresno. It was the first house the family had owned.

The girls were allowed to travel by train alone and, well, it’s probably best if Jubie tells you about it.

Jubie thought Jeannie knew everything there was to know about life and how to work it to her advantage. Needless to say, Jubie learned a lot from her.

Charles, Kay, Flora, Jubie, Bob Condit and Jeannie

Jeannie got married in 1943 at the tender age of 17 to Bob Condit and she stayed with him until she was 19. Her first child, Robert Charles Condit was born on July 18, 1945. Bob Condit got out of the service on a medical discharge and he wanted to move Jeannie back to Iowa. Jeannie stayed there for about six months before she and Bobby came home. She never went back and she and Bob divorced.

When Grandma Flora moved to Stockton, Jeannie came here too. Bobby was just a little kid when Grandma started watching him. Grandpa Hardin was working at the railroad. When Grandma Flora wanted to go back to work, they thought she was too old to hire as a secretary and that is when she got into the Shaklee business.

 

Raymond Kosich was born on January 24, 1923 in Oakland, CA to Sam and Eva Kosich. Sam Kosich was born in Yugoslavia and Eva’s family was from Sutter Creek, CA.

Ray Kosich, 1931

I am very fortunate that my cousin Jim shared with me all of the history, photographs and everything he had of his fathers. When I look at Uncle Ray as a child, he looks just like my cousins Sam and John.

Ray’s father was the Manager of Tiny’s Waffle House, located at 27 N. Sutter Street in Stockton.

They were a very old-time Stockton couple, back when Stockton was in its heyday. He was an only child and very adored. Uncle Ray attended University of the Pacific in 1943 and became a member of Omega Phi Alpha

Ray enlisted in the Finance Department of the US Army on November 27, 1942 at the age of 19 and he received a Bronze star

 

Jeanie and Ray married on October 18, 1948 in Carson City, Nevada. Their first baby, Sallie Jean Kosich, was born on September 6, 1949, the same year Big Sam Kosich, Ray’s father, passed away.

Ray took over at Tiny’s Waffle Shop and they moved to 3 East McKenzie where they would live for the rest of their married life. They had so many families that the Kosich kids grew up with including the Jacksons (I thought they were our family too because their last name was so close), the Stovers and the Whittens. Their entire lives revolved around that street and those kids could walk into every house in the neighborhood and be treated just like they were family.

Jeannie, then Jeannie, Jubie, Sallie and Bobby and Jeannie holding Sallie

Ray eventually bought the restaurant and on October 11th, 1952 Samuel Raymond Kosich was born.

Bobby, Sallie, Sam and Jeannie

Ray eventually opened a private investigation business along with Jeannie and they worked cases together.

This is Uncle Ray and Aunt Jean in the front yard of 3 East McKenzie.

Sam, Jeannie and Ray

James Randall Kosich was born on July 30, 1960 and John Steven Kosich was born on December 9, 1961, forever to be called the little boys.

Uncle Ray holding Johnny, Sally, Bobby, Cindy, Uncle Dick, Daddy, then Aunt Jean holding Jimmy, Sam, Grandma Flora, Kevin and Kendall Paulsen held by Aunt Kay then Momma holding Jackie and Laurie, Cammie and Timmy.

Aunt Jean is so stylish here, just beautiful!

Uncle Ray and Johnny

Dinner at Flora’s house.

 

Aunt Kay, Uncle Dick, Bobby, Cindy, Flora, Charles, Ray, Jeannie, Sallie, Sam, Tim, Jubie Cammie and Timmy taken at Kay’s house warming.

Me and Uncle Ray when I was about a year and a half.

This is one of the last pictures of our family. It is very blurry but also precious at the same time. Ray Kosich died on May 2, 1971 at the age of 48 from a heart attack. To say that he was gone too soon would be an understatement and his leaving left a void in their family too great to comprehend.  My cousin John recently spoke about his brother Sam coming to tell him and Jim, ages 10 and 11, that their father had died and how difficult it was and how much Sam tried to step in for his father to be a great big brother to them.

There are times in life when it would be so nice to be able to hit a pause button, to be able to stop where we are and hold those that we love close and refuse to let those moments turn into memories.

Jeannie moved closer to her mother in Nevada City, CA and the boys (can’t help myself) went to school there before moving to San Jose, closer to her sister Jubie. It was difficult for Jeannie and she gave of herself to the best of her ability.

 

I always think of my Aunt Jean when I watch the movie Terms of Endearment. In one of the last scenes of the movie, the character played by Shirley MacClaine, starts ranting until the nurse gives her daughter the shot of morphine. If there was something that seemed impossible to do, Aunt Jean would be the person to get it accomplished. She could talk her way into and out of situations that would have bent the spine of a lesser person.

My favorite Aunt Jean story is when she came to the house one time and really wanted to help Jubie so she let Jeanie make the biscuits for breakfast. We get to the breakfast table, the biscuits looked hard and terrible and my dad says, “Jub, what in the hell did you do to the biscuits?” Momma gave him a look and said we’ll talk about it later. He was so used to my mother’s cooking he didn’t like when anyone else cooked but especially biscuits. Dad couldn’t let it go. and finally my mother had to say Jeannie made the biscuits and everyone just laughed. Aunt Jean didn’t really inherit the cooking genes like Jubie did.

We stayed very close to our cousins and so much of our shared childhood. It was often a game of “Got You Last” or if the “Kosich Brats” went to get flu shots with the “Jacques’ Brats” and Johnny fainting when he got his shot will always leave a lasting memory. Driving up to Grandma Flora’s house and praying all the way that it would snow (the next morning it snowed so much there was a faint line of green where my parent’s car had been). Sitting next to each other at the children’s table and then having to wait while Grandma or Pappy said the blessing and wondering who would laugh first before they finished. Sleeping in the tee pee that Grandma had made for us then having to sleep in the house because Johnny was afraid. (Oh yes, Johnny will say it wasn’t him but trust me, he was too afraid for sleeping outside of Grandma’s house).

Virginia Lois Kosich passed away on October 14, 1990 and is buried at Cherokee Memorial Cemetery.

We got together when my cousin Bobby passed away in Iowa on September 27, 2003 and we remaining kids had a dinner to honor his memory.

Johnny, Laurie, myself, Sam, Jim, Jackie and Tim at that event.

 

Jim, Mary, Little Johnny, Amanda, Allison, Dad, Jake, Donna and John on my dad’s 75th birthday.

My cousin Jim had married a lovely girl by the name of Mary and had two beautiful girls, Amanda and Jennifer. He passed away way too early in 2012 at the age of 52.  He wrote to me in 2009 because he had found a picture of Grandma Flora on my Ancestry.com page and he said he just knew it had to be me that had put that up. I laughed and he began to share that he was starting to do some research on his Grandma Eva’s heritage and then he sent me all of the photographs of Uncle Ray on this page along with the recording of his father. I am so glad he shared that with me and I will continue to research some of Eva’s heritage for him.

My cousin Sally still lives here in Stockton, is married, and has two sons and 4 grandchildren.

Johnny is also married, lives in Stockton and has three children: John Jr., Allison and Jake.

Jackie and Johnny

Last year I helped my cousin Sam get his Native American I.D. card and saw him several times throughout the year. He passed away unexpectedly in July of 2015. It was so sudden and I just wasn’t prepared to have him leave us so soon.

Sam and his best friend Shiela

Virginia Lois Kosich and Raymond Samuel Kosich left a lasting legacy. Humans struggle with life and they were no different but they produced great children and as far as I can see their grandchildren are going to be spectacular people and it will go on and on.